A close friend claims that if you pause any moment of a Wes Anderson film, you'd have a glorious photograph from just that mere movie still. Be that as it may, I'd argue that the truer Anderson ethos is more about picture with sound.
It is Anderson's signature ability to create brilliantly screened moments by pairing unfamiliar--or at least unpredictable--music with his cinematography.
OK, so maybe it's a shared brilliance. Because Anderson's music supervisor, Randall Poster, has collaborated with the director on every film.
In a recent dialogue with New York's Vulture blog, Poster divulged his reasons behind their musical choices and how they fit, ever so subtly, into Anderson's overall filmic landscape.
To wit, here are some of Poster's musical directions for Classicalite's two favorite Wes Anderson films--Rushmore and The Royal Tennenbaums.
Rushmore: The Creation, "Making Time"
The Creation's 1966 debut single plays during the yearbook montage of the activities of Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman).
"Going into making Rushmore, we had a pretty strong idea about what we wanted to use in the film. Wes had drawn the comparison to the British explosion, where there were bands that were all dressed neatly in suits and ties, and yet the music was wildly spirited. The Creation was a real musical centerpiece, and characterized this angry young man spirit that we wanted to bring to Max Fischer's sensibility."
Rushmore: The Who, "A Quick One, While He's Away"
Max and Mr. Blume's (Bill Murray) escalating prank war (smashing bicycles, disconnecting brakes, etc.) was set to the 1966 Who song.
"The Who were certainly in that same world. What's great about that song in particular is that it's sort of a dialogue, so we have the twin sides of Blume and Fischer. It also has this incredible operatic element to it, where it rises emotionally as the grudge match becomes meaner and meaner."
Rushmore: The Faces, "Ooh La La"
Max has the DJ play 1973's Ronnie Wood-sung Faces song when Max asks Rosemary (Olivia Williams) to dance at the end of the film.
"That was one we came upon as we were making the movie. It's pretty delicious that song, especially when you hear the 'ooh la la.' I think it really captures that deep feeling of young love, and how Max is just so passionate. It has both perspectives on the situation, but it also captures the pure emotion of the sentiment."
The Royal Tenenbaums: Mutato Muzika Orchestra, "Hey Jude"
This Beatles cover plays during the prologue, when the narrator explains the Tenenbaum kids' childhood.
"For a long time, we had been working with the Beatles' version of 'Hey Jude' in the opening, and at that point in time, licensing the Beatles for movies was particularly challenging. But we were pursuing it. We were really getting through the process and then unfortunately George Harrison got sick and it wasn't going to happen, and it was all very sad. Sometimes my feeling is, however it works out is the way it's meant to work out. Mutato Muzika Orchestra's version just felt like it hit all the beats. I particularly felt like it succeeded in a way that maybe the original recording wasn't going to. It became more original to The Royal Tenenbaums. Sometimes certain songs--particularly, I think, the Beatles--it's like kryptonite. They're so powerful. They take you somewhere else. I think the Mutato Orchestra kept it in the realm of our film. I'm not saying that we wouldn't have pulled it off, but for me, I thought what we used was really unbeatable."
The Royal Tenenbaums: Nico, "These Days"
The original 1967 Nico version of the Jackson Browne-written song plays when Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) walks off the bus to meet her brother, Richie (Luke Wilson).
"It's pretty sublime. It really captures the sense of the unattainable and the romantic ambitions of Richie Tenenbaum. The great story about that is that Cameron Crowe took Jackson Browne to see the movie, and when that scene comes on, Jackson Browne elbows Cameron Crowe and says, 'Man, I used to play like that.' And Cameron Crowe goes, 'It is you!' He forgot that he had played on the song. He got so caught up in the movie that he lost his own sense of history."
The Royal Tenenbaums: Elliott Smith, "Needle in the Hay"
After Richie, who loves his sister, hears about Margot's many relationships from the private investigator, he shaves and then cuts his wrists to the 1995 Smith song.
"What can I say? God bless Elliott Smith. We had been talking to him during the course of that film, and he was really struggling. [Smith committed suicide in 2003, two years after Tenenbaums was released.] I just feel lucky. Once again, I think it's Wes's ability to work with music in a sequence. It's just so powerful and so touching and so sad and so beautiful."
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